late cz

[novice]

May 30th California Zepher east-bound (train #6) was more than 7 hours late leaving Denver. This is the second time this month it has been incredibly behind schedule. This leads to several questions:

1. Why sooooo late?

2. Does the Denver Amtrak station stay staffed when a scheduled 7:30 P.M. train departs after midnight? (checked baggage, ticket window, safety concerns)

3. Since #6 will obviously be late into Chicago, what does Amtrak do for the passengers who miss connections and have to wait 'till the next day for the next train?

Many thanks for your response.

 

[jccollins]

There are a number of "excuses" (none of which are valid in my book) that explain why the trains can run so late. They range from U.P. freight congestion and poor congestion to mechanical breakdowns and even crews "dying on the road" - in which the train cannot move from its location until a new crew arrives out in the middle of nowhere (sometimes) to meet the train and relieve the old crew. Unforunately the engineers cannot work on overtime (over 12 hours straight when there are two of them) even when common sense says they should.

The Denver station will remain open until the train does arrive. Yes, even if it is past midnight for a scheduled 7:30pm departure of train 6. An agent will need to be at the station to unload the baggage from the train and reload it with new baggage.

Amtrak will always accommodate passengers arriving in Chicago with dedicated Amtrak connections to other routes and services. A dedicated connection is one that was booked together with the original leg of the trip. An example would be if you went to the Amtrak website and booked a "through" trip from Denver to NYC on the California Zephyr and the corresponding train from Chicago to NYC (Capitol Limited?). Amtrak would put you on the next scheduled train EB out of Chicago if it was to depart within a reasonable period of time (to be worked out between you and Amtrak) or they would send you on alternate transportation. Usually they will want to send you on the next Amtrak train to continue your trip, even if it does mean waiting until the next day's departure, and in this case they will be happy to book you a room in a nearby hotel for the night at their expense. In a case like this the best thing to do is just to remain calm - Amtrak will take care of you.

 

[seajay]

In a case like this the best thing to do is just to remain calm - Amtrak will take care of you.

I will certainly second these instructions. When dealing with a situation involving a canceled train out of Chicago, I did my best to remain calm and appreciate that the Amtrak staff was trying to deal with a very difficult situation. A lot of other passengers were loud, obnoxious, and very, very rude.

I believe my restrained and polite persistance for information and reparations was greeted much more favorably and, thus, I really felt I was treated well. Granted, I had the luxury of my trip not being a matter of life and death like all the other people's seemed to be. Yes, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease" but sometimes it better to go by another old saying: "You can catch a lot more flies with honey than with vinegar."

seajay

 

[battalion51]

Amtrak does make every effort that it can to keep passengers happy when trains get very late. This can vary as much as free meals, to free travel depending on the amount of inconvienence. Amtrak does make every effort it can make to get you where you need to go in a timely fashion. The key to getting something is to remain calm and just explain to the ticket agent what you expect, the more upset you get, the less you will get.

 

[tp49]

CZ had minor derailment in Colorado sometime last week, that may have something to do with some of the delays as they probably had to do some work on the traks in the area and restrict the speed and all.

 

[TraderTif]

I had this happen to me 2 years ago, and it was not a good experience. I missed the connection to the Lakeshore Limited, and amtrak put us up. Yes, they did pay for it and everything, I thought that was just fine. However, there were SO MANY of us! (It took us over 1 hour just to check in to the hotel, lol). So, fine, ok, it was still all right.

But the next day, my parents and I spent the entire day at the Chicago station trying to locate someone who could tell us if we could still get sleepers on the Lakeshore Limited (we really, really hate travelling coach). Unofrtunately, all the sleepers were full, and we had to go coach. Now, honestly, this whole thing would not have been half as bad if someone could have just told us what was happening, instead of sending us to various managers, supervisors, etc. and telling everyone that "that's not my job". I mean, we are reasonable people, we understand that these things happen. But the passengers were so fed up at this point that when we got on the Lakeshore Limited (and you better believe that coach was CROWDED!!) I saw three different people "ejected" from the train by amtrak employees because they were so angry (I thought a fight was going to break out, really).

I mean, amtrak put us up, gave us vouchers for food, phone calls, etc. and even refunded the entire cost of the trip back, but it was still an awful experience. (we got our refund certificate on the way back, and things were looking up) But then, the crew hit their time limit 3 MILES outside of the Albany station (my stop, of course) and we sat there for 2 HOURS! My dad was very frustrated when we finally got off in Albany. He went to the desk and tried to cash the refund voucher (which said, right on the front, that it was immediately redeemable for cash) and the desk person said that they couldn't do that. I've never seen my dad get so angry before, he banged his fists on the counter and was like "this is the 13th largest Amtrak station in the country and I know you can cash this!" So, the manager came out and cashed it.

We weren't annoyed about the experience, just the inability to communicate with anyone and the unwillingness of the employees to talk to the passengers.

(I must add, that the trip out, going from Albany to Iowa was wonderful, and the sleeping car guy was really great! The best trip I've ever had). Also, in spite of that experience, I'm taking much the same trip 1 week from Tuesday. This is why I've been watching the arrival times of the CZ with much interest. PLEASE LET IT BE ON TIME WHEN I COME BACK!!! lol!

Please, I'm not trying to offend anyone, and I usually really enjoy my trips on Amtrak! It was just an unusual occurence. Usually, Amtrak employees are very helpful and polite!

Tif =

 

[amtrakadirondack]

CZ had  minor derailment in Colorado sometime last week, that may have something to do with some of the delays as they probably had to do some work on the traks in the area and restrict the speed and all.

I didn't hear about that, I would have thought that Amtrak would have made a news release on the website.

 

[AlanB]

CZ had  minor derailment in Colorado sometime last week, that may have something to do with some of the delays as they probably had to do some work on the traks in the area and restrict the speed and all.

I didn't hear about that, I would have thought that Amtrak would have made a news release on the website.

No Amtrak usually doesn't post a press release on their site, unless it's a major derailment and the train is annulled. Something that only caused a few hours delay and didn't hurt any passengers or crew, would not show up on the Amtrak website.